Not All OPEC Members Benefit Equally From Higher Oil Prices

OPEC’s efforts to erase the oil glut and lift oil prices paid off as the cartel reaped higher revenues from crude oil exports in 2017, but the spoils were unevenly split among the individual producers, OPEC’s Annual Statistical Bulletin showed on Thursday. The value of total petroleum exports of the OPEC producers jumped to US$578.3 billion last year, up from US$451.8 billion in 2016 and from US$519.8 billion in 2015, according to the bulletin. The annual increase last year stood at 28 percent , according to calculations by Bloomberg. But the rewards from the cuts were not evenly split among the cartel’s individual members. The biggest percentage gain in the value of petroleum exports was recorded in Libya, up 61 percent on the year to US$15 billion. Last year, Libya was exempt from the production cuts, together with Nigeria, due to the civil strife and militant violence that had […]